Typical Sushi Lunch

This is a typical fast school lunch. I can put this together in about 5 minutes in the morning. Today's sushi is simply carrots and cucumbers, but I do vary the vegetables. I've used asparagus, bell peppers, tofu, rolled up spinach leaves. If I have it on hand and it can be stuck into a sushi roll I've probably tried it. She's eaten it all, but she wasn't as fond of the leaves. She likes spinach in salads and smoothies, but apparently it's not sushi appropriate. 

Also included are blackberries and blueberries. I stuck a Cascadian Farms chocolate chip granola bar in the center as a divider. This LunchBots container is different from the one yesterday in that it is just one open container with no dividers. That brand of granola bar is one of the only varieties I've found that does not contain tree nuts. 

I've been making sushi for the last year, so it's just as easy to throw these together as it would be for most people to make a pb&j.

I make a pot of brown rice once or twice a week and keep it in the fridge to have on hand. To give it the "sticky" quality needed for sushi, I simply add a little more water than called for and cook it for maybe 5 minutes more. Typical sushi rice recipes call for rice vinegar and sugar, but Sweetpea seems to think that makes the rice taste like lemonade. Maybe I just haven't quite figured out the right ratio. For now I just sprinkle a little vinegar in the rice. She seems fine with that. 

Special Bento for Starting Third Grade

Hello, Blogworld! I'm sorry I've been MIA, but I do have a fairly good reason. Last year Sweetpea announced, "I love sushi! If you make me sushi every day in my lunch I'll eat every bite."

Who was I to argue? I was a little disappointed that she didn't expect me to make charaben every day, but it was really easy to get into the routine of making her a vegetable sushi roll every morning. They were in bento boxes and the lunches could be quite colorful. Usually I made her a carrot and cucumber sushi and varied the fruit and treat. I even took a few photos. But how much can one really say about sushi day after day?

At the end of the year, she asked, "Why don't you make me cute bentos anymore? I love sushi, but I didn't mean for you to NEVER make special lunches."

Well, okay then. Thanks for clarifying.

Today was her very first day of third grade. (Yes, I actually typed 'first' grade before I realized my mistake.) I know it's a total cliche, but I'll say it anyway - I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  

For her first school lunch of the year, I chose to make a Hawaiian themed bento in remembrance of our recent vacation in Maui.

I'm a little bit out of practice, but I don't think it turned out too bad. On the left side is a carrot and cucumber palm tree standing on a blackberry black sand beach. On the right is a brown rice turtle surrounded by pickled ginger flowers. After I took the photos, I remembered that I had some paper cocktail umbrellas among all my bento stuff so I tucked it in next to the metal separator. She plans to skewer the cucumbers and blackberries with it.

Aloha!